Grade: B-
In my high school days, I was never a wild child. I never went to a party, nor was I ever invited to one and I never did anything illegal. My high school story would make up for a very boring “coming of age” story if it were to be made into a movie. In the latest coming of age comedy Booksmart, directed by Olivia Wilde, Amy and Molly were too busy studying and over achieving to be bothered to party and hang amongst the “cool” rowdy crowd. The night before their high school graduation, they aspire to live it up and try to shed the studious hermit lifestyle that they had been living the past four years.
Booksmart deals with many topics within its storyline at a very rapid comedic pace. It deals with sex, sexuality, drugs, partying and love like most of the other movies of its genre. It reminded me of a feminist version of the first American Pie.
The relationship between Amy (played by Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (player by Beanie Feldstein) is perfect for the movie. They are two friends who have been through the good and bad together from the beginning. They know each other like the backs of their hands and for the most part, always supported one another no matter what the issue. Amy’s story arc deals mainly with her sexuality. She knows she is gay but she doesn’t know how to navigate the lifestyle. For example, she likes another girl but she is unsure if the other girl is gay like her. Molly’s story arc deals with ditching her straight A lifestyle for a night and living it up. Molly is the one in the friendship who would always try to egg Amy on in order to get her to do some crazy fun stuff!
Booksmart starts out of the gate with a comedic rapid fire filled with bad decisions and laughter. In the 2nd and 3rd act of the 102 minute romp, Booksmart kind of takes it foot off the gas pedal when it was truly en route to a seriously raunchy comedy. For the majority of the film, I was laughing constantly and I really wish it would have maintained the crazy course that it started in the beginning of the story. Booksmart sets a high bar for itself from the get-go and never really makes its way back to delivering the funny as it did in the start of the movie.
Olivia Wilde did a great job directing Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein. The acting was always on point and the relationship between the two girls was very believable. The only problem Booksmart really has, and it is a pretty big problem, is that the writers gave up and decided to push an agenda rather than deliver pure comedy to the audience. Booksmart is the perfect hors d’oeuvre for that crazy summer comedy that you have been craving amidst all the action movies being pumped out but I am really looking forward to the upcoming comedy called “Good Boys” which is slated to release on August 16th. Grab your friends from high school and have fun watching some crazy shenanigans take place in Booksmart, all in all, it is a good time!